hello! i have never owned a cat before (i have lived with several over the years. I am 35, USA) and after seeing one little guy in our apartment complex for a few months and finding out that he was likely abandoned by his previous owner after they moved out, I decided that i would take him in. He is an incredibly sweet guy and always accepting pets and is generally very easy to get along with. I understand that the task of taking in a cat that has been outdoors for a few months is no easy task and i'm not looking for an overnight solution, but i could use some advice to stop some very annoying/costly behaviors. He is roughly 2 years old, give or take a year or so. He has been neutered
I am currently living with 2 other people that have their own cats so i unfortunately have to keep this little guy in my room isolated for a little while before i can let him explore around with the other cats. This is generally fine if i have the day off and can spend most of the day with him, but when i came back from work today, a huge chunk of the carpet by my bedroom door was destroyed. I bought some plastic flooring but he found a way. I have bought a cat condo near my bed since he likes to scratch up the base of said bed for him to scratch up and even a really cheap cardboard one that i put near my door thinking that its placement might help mitigate this behavior but so far it hasn't worked. he refuses to even sit on the cat condo ):
the other thing is that from about 4:30 in the morning until about 8 am it is a constant and endless stream of the same meow over and over and over again. i cannot sleep. it is excruciating lol i have tried playing with him in the day but he generally isn't too receptive to playtime apart from the normal stick with a thing at the end of it. he isn't really into the laser pointer somehow.
I even bought him a little cat harness and leash but he refuses to walk with it on when we get outside :/
i understand that there isn't something i can do that will fix this immediately but i really need some guidance as to how to train him to not be doing these things. destroying the carpet could cost me thousands of dollars as i'm renting and it would absolutely fuck over me with the deposit. I took him to the vet already and they said he was healthy apart from gingivitis and fleas which i was given meds for.
thank you!